After every single sexual encounter that could possibly lead to pregnancy, all females, especially including any girls or teens who could possibly conceive, need to make police reports and claim rape.

The State of Georgia recently passed a so-called “heartbeat law.” This law prohibits abortion after a fetal heartbeat can be heard, generally around six weeks of gestation. Creators of the bill contend that the unborn should be counted as fully human and thus endowed all constitutional rights, including the right to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.

The exceptions the Georgia legislature allowed: rape or incest IF the woman has made a police report and to prevent death and/or serious harm to the woman.

Fair enough: six-to-seven week fetuses (but not younger ones) have all the rights of every other US citizen. However, the host, i.e., the pregnant woman, loses her previous rights to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness should the pregnancy not be in her best interest.

In other words, the rights of the fetus trump the rights of the woman. The womb takes priority. The fetus-host takes on the role of the vessel that carries the treasure.

How to preserve the constitutional rights of women

So what to do? How can women maintain their constitutional rights as well?

It’s quite simple: after every single sexual encounter that could lead to pregnancy, all females, notably including any girls or teens who could conceive, need to make police reports and claim rape. Then, in the event of an unwanted pregnancy where the girl/teen/woman realizes for reasons that may be unfathomable to others but are right for her that she cannot carry the pregnancy to term, she will be able to obtain the health-care she needs and terminate the pregnancy by referring to the rape report.

Now, admittedly, this could cause a few problems. First, the hassle of filing the report will be a bit of a deterrent, plus all the un-read rape kits will pile up even higher. However, with increasing technological solutions to much of life, my hope is that rape reports can soon be completed online. Thus they can be quickly and routinely filed after each sexual encounter. This routine becomes the new normal for all sexually active, willingly or unwillingly, girls, teens and women.

The many men in Georgia who will repeatably find their names in rape reports may not be particularly happy. They will most likely need to keep an attorney on retainer at all times. Plus, it may make things just a bit difficult for the, more than likely male-dominated, local police to keep up with all the reports since sexual encounters are reasonably common.

But it will also do something else: it will remind people that pregnancies, wanted or unwanted, are not just the woman’s responsibility, but they are also the responsibility of the male who impregnated her.

The goal of this legislation is to protect the life of the unborn. Thus, this solution presents the best of all options. No infant will be born without an identified father who will be required to pay generous child support for the next 18 years. For good measure and also for the greater societal good, let’s throw responsibility for college or trade-school tuition into the balance as well.

And, if after reporting the rape, the woman does discover a pregnancy, and wants to carry it to term, she can drop the charge. If she does not, she will be able to access the needed medical care, even if, as it is likely, the six-week window has already closed. Finally, and most importantly, it means that all babies born will be wanted. And that’s precisely what we need to happen.

Bearing children is a holy act of creation

Now, as I pondered my wonderfully creative solution to preserving the rights of the woman, I also reminded myself of something fundamentally true: Bearing children is a holy act.

It took me a while to figure this out. With my first two pregnancies, I was terrified and for three primary reasons. One, I had no idea if I would be a decent mother. Two, I had no idea if I could love my children well. Three, with my the second pregnancy, I had no idea if I would survive having not just one but two tiny beings to care for and nurture.

In retrospect, I’m still not sure I was a decent mother, but my children have all grown into responsible, fundamentally good people with large hearts and generous, sound moral characters. And I had the delightful shock of falling joyfully in love with each of my children.

During the third pregnancy, I had my epiphany: this little life growing in me was a profound act of creation that God and I were doing together.

Frankly, I endured quite the challenging pregnancy even with that enlightenment. One person, meeting me for the first time late in that pregnancy, described me as the most miserable pregnant person he had ever seen. And that was just after watching me trying to get up from a somewhat deep chair. And yet, I found my soul overflowing with joy at the power and, again, the incarnational holiness, of what had taken over my body.

So we return to what should be the best of all worlds: a place where every conception is intentional. Right now, we are far from that hope. The most recent information I can find right now suggests that around 45% of all US pregnancies are unplanned–and a large percentage of those unplanned conceptions end up aborted.

The very best thing: Stop unwanted pregnancies

So, the best thing we can do is to stop unplanned pregnancies. Period.

Truly a doable goal. A concerted societal/religious/government effort can make this happen.

So, where do we start?

First, we can all agree that abortions are the least desirable method of birth control. We can build on that solid foundation.

Second, high-quality and honest sex education needs to be a part of every school curriculum, including public, private, and home-schooled children. It also needs to start with younger children. With the advent of earlier and earlier entrances into puberty, especially for girls, they need basic answers from an early age as to how their bodies work and what happens when the maturation process begins.

It is cruel to leave our kids ignorant of these fundamental biological principles. I speak here from my own sad and eventually frightening ignorance when my body began to change–I had no idea what was happening or how to deal with it. I am not alone here.

Women must own every sexual encounter

We especially need to teach our daughters about the sacred responsibility of bearing children. A decision to enter into a sexual encounter that may create life should be done carefully and mindfully, with considerable thought about who the father of the child might be.

Girls, teens, and grown women need to know they have all power over that decision. They have both the right and the responsibility to own their sexuality fully. No one ever has the right to take that from them. Not their fathers or brothers, mothers or sisters, not their church, not their religious authorities, not their boyfriends, not their government. The power belongs to the female, and she must, absolutely must, own it.

Third, churches need to both preach and practice holiness of the body. And I’m talking about a lot more than sex here, although we’ve got to start with vigorous prosecution of every single clergy person who violates sexual ethics.

Christianity is an incarnational religion: by the act of Jesus becoming flesh, we learn that our physical bodies and the care we give them matters and matters both temporally and eternally.

Churches tend to be too often the gathering of the overweight with all the illnesses that come from it. Why, with the very foundation of this religion being God-became-flesh do we not make the care of the gift of physicality a major priority? Religious organizations also need to take the lead in making sure their communities are well-fed. Just one suggestion: many have enough land to start community gardens. Look into the Edible Schoolyard program. See if you can partner with the local schools. It could be lifechanging.

First, puberty, the time in much of the world when many young girls are married off to prevent out-of-wedlock babies, happens now as early as age nine.

Second, economic reasons mean more and more young people delay marriage until their late 20’s and early 30’s. For the most part, they will also be enjoying their sexuality during that period. Let’s quit demonizing sexuality. Instead, speak of issues of both informed consent and sacred responsibility to be ready to rear children before engaging in activities that lead to unwanted conceptions.

Third, let’s treasure the bodies of those gifted with the responsibility of bearing the next generation of babies. One of the ways to cherish this hope of the next generation is to make long-lasting birth control methods available to everyone at no cost. Also, we make pre-natal care, including food supplementation as necessary, free. Whatever this may cost in today’s dollars will be more than paid back in tomorrow’s dollars when the next generation of healthy, fully wanted children are born.

Fourth, let’s get serious about making high-quality child-care accessible and affordable. We don’t live in an economic world where most families can get by on one income. Let’s quit punishing those who do have children and do what we can to make their lives easier and less stressed. They are our future.

We do these things, and we will soon see an end to the need for abortions except in the case where a mother’s health is at stake. Again, if we are going to properly treasure those who are willing to engage in the holy act of pregnancy and childbearing, we need to do everything possible to support them in the lifetime commitment that comes with being willing to bear and rear children.

Surely this option beats a police report after every sexual encounter.

Sane wisdom on such an important topic! Christy Thomas has a wonderful talent for cutting through all the BS and getting to where we all live…and need her wisdom.

Joshua Greyfeather

Great article! I would only add one thing: We need to teach our SONS respect and reverence for the act of creation and the woman and her body as much as we need to teach our daughters to be mindful. My firstborn was a boy, and he was 8 by the time his sister came along – old enough to recognise how much he wanted to make sure she was safe. Once he started showing interest in girls, I made sure to remind him that, when the time came that he began to date, he needed to remember that every female he would ever encounter was going to be someone’s daughter, sister, mother, and he needed to be sure that he treated them the same way he would want men treating HIS mother or sister.

Linnea912

I would only add one thing. You neglect to mention the abortions that happen because something goes terribly, tragically wrong with a wanted pregnancy, resulting in a nonviable fetus and/or a threat to the woman’s health and/or life.

Frankly, people need to mind their own business on this issue. But that’s probably too much to hope for.